THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 10, 1995 TAG: 9503090169
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 11 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBBIE MESSINA, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
About 15,000 truckloads of sand will be dumped on the resort beach over the next two months in the annual beach restoration project.
The first trucks pulled onto the beach at 37th Street Tuesday with a bounty of sand dredged from the Lynnhaven Inlet.
About 150,000 cubic yards of sand will be spread along the beach from Rudee Inlet to 49th Street. If the beach needs even more sand, another 50,000 cubic yards is available without any added costs.
Most of the sand will be used north of the Virginia Beach Fishing Pier at 15th Street. The south beach is nourished with sand pumped from the ongoing Rudee Inlet dredging project.
The $962,000 project should be complete by April 30, barring bad weather.
Based on a new agreement negotiated with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the corps is responsible for 65 percent of the cost, or $625,000. The city's share is $337,000, or 35 percent.
The corps had been reimbursing the city 50 percent under an agreement that expired in 1987. That distribution changed to the current 65:35 ratio with the passage of the Water Resources Development Act in 1986.
But the city and corps could not come to terms on a new agreement until last year. Meanwhile, the beach restoration projects from 1988 to 1993 were paid for exclusively with city money.
``It took us some time to get new cooperative agreement in effect,'' said Phillip J. Roehrs, a city coastal engineer. ``Last year's truck haul was the first one reimbursable under the new ratio.''
The city recently received that check for $493,612.
The corps also has agreed to pay 65 percent of the costs of the sand hauls from 1988 to 1993 - just under $3.2 million. While the corps has accepted responsibility for those costs, the city's not sure they'll ever see the money.
``Getting federal money appropriated these days is difficult,'' Roehrs said. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT
A bulldozer spreads sand on the beach near 37th Street on Tuesday.
The $962,000 project should be complete by April 30. The U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers is responsible for 65 percent of the cost, or
$625,000.
by CNB